Dining Room Do Over – How to Remove Urine Stains from Hardwood Flooring

Our house came with plenty of problems. I was told the previous owner had nine dogs that were kept inside after a neighbor complained. The result was urine damage to the floors.

The floors were a honey color, and I wanted something more rustic. What I REALLY wanted to do was attempt to save the original flooring. I rented a floor sander and sanded the layer away, but the urine stains remained. A real estate agent suggested that I make the floors black, but it wasn’t the route I was aiming to go with the house.

I bought a few rolls of paper towels and a few large bottles of hydrogen peroxide. I folded up a few towels, saturated them with the peroxide, and laid them over the urine stains, and let them sit for 24 hours. Each day, I pulled up the towels, checked to see how light the stains were, and repeated the process with new towels and peroxide until the stains were lightened. Now, when I first put floor stain onto the areas where I used peroxide, the color didn’t look that even, but over time, the colors looked great.

I stained the floor with Minwax Special Walnut…followed by polyurethane for floors.

The walls were painted with a mixture of Oops! paint that I had purchased. The ceiling was painted with ceiling paint. The ceiling light was replaced with a chandelier I had purchased online as an Open Box Buy. My intent was to put it in one of the girl’s rooms, but it was too big, and I knew she’d hit her head on it.

The decor – the furniture came from a family member that was downsizing The pieces in this room weren’t used together where she was, but worked perfectly together in this space. I combined it with art I had from my previous home.

I removed the plastic dividers that were in the windows and filled the holes with wood filler, sanded, and repainted. The dividers removed seemed to open up a view that made me feel so fortunate…as though I was granted access to the best art in town by having full view of my surroundings. Well, no artist could replicate the LIVE art that comes with the seasonal leaves falling, snow drifting, and spring blooming.

I once thought dining rooms were a waste of space and had said if I ever had one, I’d use it for something else. However, this dining room is one of my favorite rooms in the house. I use it every opportunity I get and attempt to have dinner with the family in it every evening. THIS dining room is for every day. Why wait for a special occasion? Every night can be special. Nothing is better than having a meal with the family at this table, and I cherish every moment I have to be able to use it.